Nailing plates are often embedded in the ends of wooden railroad ties to help protect the ties from degradation, and particularly splitting. Machines have been developed to embed nailing plates in the ends of railroad ties. These machines first compress the ends of the ties and then drive pre-placed plates into the end. With the machines presently used, workers must first apply and partially embed the plates in the ends of the ties. This is labor intensive, and because it is done manually, the positioning of the plates varies and often is less than optimal.